By Jana Bukolovska

Egypt recently held the anniversary of the revolution that started on January 25 last year and has led to the resignation of president Hosni Mubarak, who ruled the country for 30 years.

The mass event happened at Tahrir Square in Cairo and many prepared for the occasion. Traders were offering Egyptian flags, icons with symbols of different political parties and stickers.

The revolution continues in Egypt as thousands occupied Tahrir Square

The most popular commodity became flip-flops with portraits of the former Egyptian president, his son, Gamal Mubarak, a former Interior Minister, Habib el-Adly and a former parliament speaker, Fathi Sorour. All of them are currently on trial, accused of ordering shootings of demonstrators last year.

The attitude of people buying these shoes is clear – wearing them is an act of disrespect. The scene of people gathered on the same square and waving shoes in the air could be seen last February when Mubarak addressed the nation with a television appeal to calm down. Now, after a year, people, who came to the place from all over the country at the time, had a reason to both celebrate and mourn.

The revolution achieved its initial main goal – the authoritarian regime was overthrown, the first in many years, free parliamentary elections were carried out and resulted in the win of Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamists’ Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).

Stating the cost of the revolutionary ideas, Amnesty International reported in May that at least 840 people were killed and more than 6,000 injured during the riots. Now, after the violent clashes between football fans in Port Said last week, 74 people are confirmed dead and hundreds injured.

It would be simplistic to say that there is one force to blame during the brutality that overwhelmed the country with the same rallies that are also happening in Nile delta, Suez and in the Sinai Peninsula. So many residents have disconnected from the violence since the beginning of the uprising, and whether they were united from the start is debatable.

The uprising was inspired by successful protests in Tunisia. Six cases of self-immolation have occurred in Egypt following the story of Mohamed Bouazizi, 26, who provoked the revolution by setting himself on fire in front of the town hall.

There are many young people, like Mohamed, who are unemployed and not given rights to self-expression. However, what they achieved by the demonstrations didn’t change the conditions of their lives. Although the president and the military; that is now being strongly opposed as an extension of the recent regime, are in essence the main government bodies, the quick measures demanded by the protesters are not going to change the minds of employers, of local government branches or of people who might support the old rule; they will not build the immediate democratic state.

If in the beginning there were people fighting against corruption, police brutality, political censorship and state of emergency laws that have been in effect for 45 years, now the disorder in the country’s social, political and religious spheres, serves as background to the different groups and parties struggling for leadership.

While youths are protesting for the nation’s future, political parties that were developing their programmes while being forbidden under Mubarak’s regime, like Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis (party that aims to build an Islamic state controlled by the Sharia law), are trying to fill the inevitable political vacuum that was formed after the president stepped down. According to a popular view among the Egyptians; the way it is delivered by media, at least, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), Egypt’s interim military rulers, are doing the same.

Now, when the Islamists’ party has the majority in parliament, questions are arising regarding the future of the country. It’s not clear whether there will be a democracy, whether the women will be able to work or whether brutal conflicts between Muslims and Coptic Christians will continue to undermine the image of the new-born nation, depicted in the minds of those, who came to Tahrir Square to celebrate the year of fighting for change.

PHOTO: Gigi Ibrahim (Flickr)